The present invention relates to embroidery machines and, more particularly, to a removable attachment for automatic embroidery machines which will permit a flat bed machine to embroider curved surfaces.
Numerically and tape controlled embroidery machines are now widely employed for repeatedly embroidering the same pattern in workpieces and the bulk of machines move the frame containing the workpiece relative to a fixed embroidery station in a horizontal plane. Developments in rapidly programmable embroidery systems have enabled the use of automatic embroidery machines for relatively short runs and even single pieces.
Although the bulk of embroidering is performed on surfaces which are disposed in a horizontal plane, not infrequently it is desirable to embroider the workpiece which has a curved surface such as a hat, a hat brim, a sleeve, and other tubular articles. To do so, the work surface is desirably supported on an arcuate surface. Because the amount of work that requires such an arcuate surface is relatively small, it is desirable to have an attachment which will enable conversion of a flat bed machine to provide such an arcuate surface. Examples of such attachments for automatic machines having X-Y guidance systems are those found in Tajima U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,628,843, granted Dec. 16, 1986, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,415 granted Mar. 31, 1987; and in Shibata U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,844 granted May 19, 1987.
Although these attachments do permit such conversion, they have certain disadvantages in terms of optimum control of the rotation of the workpiece about the Y-axis, or stability of the positioning of the frame at the embroidery station, or cost and ease of fabrication, or ease of assembly and disassembly to the embroidery machine.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an X-Y guidance embroidery machine assembly utilizing a novel attachment for embroidering curved surfaces.
It is also such an object to provide such an assembly wherein the attachment may be readily assembled and removed and is stably positionable.
Another object is to provide such an attachment which may be fabricated relatively easily and economically and which is long lived in operation.